Thousands of Visitors Get Hands-On Feel for the OOI at USA Science & Engineering Festival

Megan Gibney and Adam Anderson of the Ocean Observatories Initiative Program demonstrate how measure salinity in ocean samples for visitors interested in the OOI's data collection capabilities at the 2012 USA Science & Engineering Festival.

(Click to enlarge) Megan Gibney and Adam Anderson of the Ocean Observatories Initiative Program demonstrate how measure salinity in ocean samples for visitors interested in the OOI’s data collection capabilities at the 2012 USA Science & Engineering Festival. (Credit: OOI Program Office Communications)

Thousands of young aspiring scientists and oceanographers and their families and teachers got a hands-on lesson on how to measure ocean properties at the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Exhibit during the 2012 USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., last week.

Members of the OOI Team led visitors, ranging in all ages, through a hands-on data collection and measurement experiment to get a glimpse of what information and data will be available with the OOI.  Many of the visitors were excited about the OOI and were amazed by what a revolutionary step it represents in our ability to study and understand the ocean. Those who participated in the experiment measured some ocean parameters, including temperature and salinity, from water samples using real scientific equipment. This outreach event is one of many taking place across the OOI program as program scientists and engineers reach out to educators, students and the general public in various communities.

Click here to learn more about the  USA Science & Engineering Festival. To learn more about the OOI please continue to visit the OOI Website and OOI Facebook and Twitter accounts for event coverage.